Obama Poll Numbers

I was waiting for this to happen. Recently, President Obama's poll numbers have been sliding quite steadily. This drop has sort of accelerated in the last two weeks. His approval rating fell below is disapproval rating a couple weeks ago, but a couple polls by networks were still keeping him near the surface. In the Realclearpolitics averages today though, those two poll numbers were dropped since they occurred two weeks ago. Both polls indicated Obama's approval ratings above 50%, which I never believed for a second.

Even the polls now conducted by the press organizations are showing him under 50%. He now has an average approval rating of 45.7% and an average disapproval rating of 49.0%. Only the Time magazine poll of nearly two weeks ago shows him with a net positive approval rating. The Reuters poll yesterday showed him even, while all others give him a net negative rating.

Consider this though...in one poll whose numbers I looked at more deeply, his approval rating among black Americans was 93%. That suggests that his approval rating among whites is well below 40%. Among hispanics, his approvals are in the upper 50s. In other words, he has lost the independent voters.

It is clear that the vast majority of Americans have tired of Obama and his over abundance of speeches, his blaming of George W. Bush for the state of the economy, and the GOP for blocking progress. Americans voted for a positive change in 2008, and Obama is simply more divisive than George Bush. His policies were not popular with the majority of Americans, yet he rammed them through with partisan votes. The economy has not rebounded as strongly as it should after such a plunge. And now, his political capital is tapped out.

What will happen in November is anyone's guess. The Republicans have a strong chance to retake the House. If they do, Obama has two choices. Stick to his liberal ideology, or move to the center like Bill Clinton. I personally think his ego is too big to do the latter because he has a view of the world and what it should be like, and does not seem capable of compromising on that view.

Clinton on the other hand managed to do some good things when he moved back to the center and that is why he was re-elected and has remained popular. We'll see what Obama does after November 2nd.